---
title: While they were yet far off, they could see the wicked Lake-Man sitt… — The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo I… · tree and pragmatics
description: While they were yet far off, they could see the wicked Lake-Man sitting at the top of his ladder, watching to see if the boy would return, and even while they looked they saw the lightning of the Trues strike him and tear him to shreds. Who acts: daughters, wicked Lake Man, boy, Trues. A sentence of
---

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# The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories, The Accursed Lake, sentence 119

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While they were yet far off, they could see the wicked Lake-Man sitting at the top of his ladder, watching to see if the boy would return, and even while they looked they saw the lightning of the Trues strike him and tear him to shreds.

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**Who acts:** daughters, wicked Lake Man, boy, Trues · **What happens:** be, see, sit, watch, return, look · **To what, where:** wicked Lake Man, top, lightning, boy

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This is a sentence of «The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories» by Charles Fletcher Lummis, The Accursed Lake. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (daughters, wicked Lake Man, boy, Trues), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg77804:19:120
# text = While they were yet far off, they could see the wicked Lake-Man sitting at the top of his ladder, watching to see if the boy would return, and even while they looked they saw the lightning of the Trues strike him and tear him to shreds.
1	While	while	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	yet	yet	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
5	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	6	advmod	_	_
6	off	off	ADV	RB	_	10	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
12	wicked	wicked	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
13	Lake	Lake	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	Man	Man	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
16	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	15	acl	_	_
17	at	at	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	top	top	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	ladder	ladder	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
24	watching	watch	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	16	advcl	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	advcl	_	_
27	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nsubj	_	_
30	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	return	return	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
34	even	even	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
35	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
36	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
37	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	parataxis	_	_
38	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
39	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	parataxis	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	lightning	lightning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obj	_	_
42	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	45	mark	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	Trues	true	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	45	nsubj	_	_
45	strike	strike	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	41	acl:relcl	_	_
46	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	obj	_	_
47	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	_
48	tear	tear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	45	conj	_	_
49	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	obj	_	_
50	to	to	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
51	shreds	shred	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	48	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | daughters *= daughter* |  |  |  | yet | far, off *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **see** | could | daughters *= daughter* | the wicked Lake Man |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **sit** | gerund | the wicked Lake Man *not said here* |  |  | the top of Cacique's ladder |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent at top=Location |
| 4 | **watch** | gerund | the wicked Lake Man *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn search-35.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **see** | to-infinitive | the wicked Lake Man *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 6 | **return** *a condition, not said to happen* | would | the boy |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **look** | past | daughters *= daughter* |  |  |  |  |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 8 | **see** | past | daughters *= daughter* | the lightning |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer lightning=Stimulus |
| 9 | **strike** | present | the Trues | boy |  |  |  |  | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent he=Instrument |
| 10 | **tear** | infinitive | the Trues *not said here* | boy |  |  |  | to shreds *result* | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent he=Patient to shred=Result |

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One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

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**Text:** «The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories» by Charles Fletcher Lummis, Project Gutenberg book 77804 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

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